Cloud hampers view of lunar eclipse

"Then we get an eclipse". But part of the reason you don't see a lunar eclipse or solar eclipse every month is that the moon's orbit is tilted about five degrees off from Earth's orbit, according to Dr. Faherty.

The August total eclipse will cross the entire United States, coast-to-coast, for the first time since 1918.

Upon this alignment, the Moon covers the disc of the sun, and those places on Earth that get caught by the Moon's shadow will see the Sun go dark in the phenomenon called an eclipse.

The shadow is composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other.

On Aug. 21, the new moon will line up perfectly between Earth and the sun, causing a rare solar eclipse.

On August 21, a total solar eclipse is projected to cut a broad swath all across the continental United States - beginning on the west coast in OR and moving across Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and SC. This can occur only when the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle.

"You can take your phone and point it into your pinhole projector and take an image of that projection you made of the partial solar eclipse", he told Fox News.

"On February 11 this year there was a penumbraleclipse of the moon". Religious beliefs in India say food becomes impure during an eclipse and should not be eaten.

You'll need special glasses to protect your eyes if you want to see the eclipse. You can watch the lunar eclipse with nothing more than your own two eyes. Partial eclipses slightly outnumber total eclipses by 7 to 6. The biggest cities in the path include Nashville; Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina; Salem, Oregon; Casper, Wyoming; and just partially within, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri.

This list describes when to wear your glasses and when you can safely look at the eclipse, only during totality!